A shelter from the cold

Saratoga Springs follows the lead of Albany after low temperatures claim a life

By Kristen V. Brown

Published 10:37 pm, Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Saratoga Springs

It was an unusually frigid Christmas Eve, the kind of biting chill that can be life-threatening for those with no refuge from the cold.

As temperatures slipped into the single digits on Tuesday, Code Blue programs throughout the Capital Region sheltered those without a warm place to spend their holiday. In Saratoga Springs, the city inaugurated its new emergency shelter system, established after a 54-year-old homeless woman named Nancy Pitts died earlier this month after a freezing night on a city porch.

There, the mercury dipped as low as 5 degrees on Thursday, more than 10 degrees below average for this time of year; with windchill, the National Weather Service said, it felt more like 5 below. As part of the city program, the Church of St. Peter's on Broadway offered shelter to six people.

In Albany, Code Blue provided shelter for 15 homeless people as temperatures plunged.

More Information

Hypothermia occurs when the body's internal temperature drops too low to support normal bodily function. Death is often a risk after that temperature falls below 70 degrees, when severe hypothermia sets in.

The homeless are often among those groups at particular risk for suffering severe consequences from the cold — it is more likely to effect those who are very old, chronically ill, malnourished, tired or under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

Pitts, who police found on a back porch of the Saratoga Senior Center, was a woman of poor health with a drinking problem.

"If you add real cold weather on top of that, that's what happened to Nancy," said Liz Hitt, who oversees Albany's Code Blue system. Pitts died after a night spent in 10-degree cold.

Added to those factors is the fact that homeless people often lack warm clothing.

"We know from living in upstate New York that it's all about head, hands and feet," she said. "They don't have good hats, good gloves or good boots. Plus, they're out there sleeping on cardboard. It just heightens the risk."

In Saratoga Springs and Albany, Code Blue is called when the temperature drops below 10 degrees or when the forecast projects more than a foot of snow.

In Saratoga Springs, Pitts' death served as a wake-up call for the community to provide additional services. As part of the new program, police and firefighters search for homeless people on freezing nights to send to the shelter, and the city and Saratoga County Economic Opportunity Council provide free transportation there.

The system was modeled after Albany's Code Blue system, which begins in November and runs through March 15. The Code Blue was in part spurred by the death of Darrell Glass, 31, a homeless man who froze to death off Northern Boulevard in February 2007.